


We All Fall To Pieces

by IceQueenJules26



Series: Walk on Water or Drown [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Challenger Ash, Elite Four Member Misty, F/M, The Elite Four (Pokemon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 11:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21270374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceQueenJules26/pseuds/IceQueenJules26
Summary: Misty's life as an Elite Four Member is turned upside down when she learns that Ash is back in Kanto - and well on his way to her...





	We All Fall To Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> My fic for the first day of the Pokeshipping Week! I loved the theme a lot, so it ran away from me a bit; therefore I had to split this in two parts. Second part will be up at Day 4. I hope you guys like it and enjoy reading!

The media and general public had always shown a fairly huge interest in Misty. In her time as the Gym Leader she’d had interview requests every other day and had to get her sisters to manage them, and if anything, it had only gotten worse since she had joined the Elite Four. When Lorelei had decided to step down to start a family and take over a Gym instead, it was the path of least resistance to promote Misty since their teams were fairly similar in types. 

Not that Misty hadn’t deserved her spot in the Elite Four - she had. She’d grown so strong even the others were almost terrified of her, and when they had matches to pass the time - being a member of the Elite Four involved a lot of waiting - she usually wiped the floor with them. 

Her promotion also meant that she now had someone to deal with interview requests, she just got informations on when she had to meet with whom. That obviously had a lot of benefits, but it also had a downside: she no longer had any idea of how much she was in demand. 

She’d noticed the slowly growing numbers in interviews she had scheduled over the next few weeks - after her periodical two weeks break she usually had like two or three a week, but when she’d taken a glimpse into her calendar there was one every day now.

When she woke up one morning in late July she went for a morning swim and had a light breakfast before she first took a look at her smartphone. There were a few texts that she ignored in favour of looking into her work calendar. She was sure when she’d checked yesterday she didn’t have anything planned, but now there was an interview scheduled for this morning. 

She shot Cynthia, their current champ and her best friend, a quick text to cancel the sparring match they had planned this morning, then she put the phone down again. Her fingers itched to take a look at her social media, but she’d decided to take half a year off and she was determined to go through with it. Just a few more days, then she’d be done with it and could tell her sisters that all that talk about “detoxification” was nothing but nonsense. 

She arrived exactly on time for her interview with  _ KTV,  _ a famous television agency from Kanto, in her usual outfit of shorts and a crop top. Vaporeon, always happy to be recorded, accompanied her, greeted the crew with an adorable  _ Vapo _ and had the crew cooing at her in no time at all, which had Misty sighing. She wished she was that natural with cameras and attention. 

Her pokemon took a place in front of the camera, tail propped around herself almost artistically, and looked pretty while the crew took some “practicing shots” of her. Misty giggled to herself at how fast Vaporeon had them wrapped around her paw, then she turned her attention towards the journalist interviewing her today. “Hi, my name’s Masumi, I’m from  _ KTV _ and will be your interviewer today. It’s nice to meet you!” 

Her face radiated friendliness that soothed Misty’s anxiety over the interview considerably, and she allowed herself to relax. “Hi, I’m Misty. And I guess you’ve already met my Vaporeon,” she joked, and the crew turned to her with glowing eyes, telling her how pretty her pokemon was. She smirked as her pokemon made small, cute noises as she was being praised, knowing exactly well Vaporeon did that on purpose. 

“Anyways, do you want to start or do you need anything?” the journalist asked and Misty shook her head dismissively. She just wanted to get this over with.

__

It was all going well - a lot of questions about her past that stroke her as odd, but nothing too bad - at least until the mention of a single name caught her completely off guard, threw her off her game and left her having trouble breathing. 

“So, I’m sure you’ve heard that someone from your past has gained a lot of fans recently - what do you say about the fact that Ash Ketchum is taking on the Kanto league again?”

Surprisingly, her eyes went wide for just a fraction of a second before she had her face back in check, but her heart was still racing in her chest. Ash. She hadn’t heard that name years. Why had no one told her he was even back in Kanto? 

For a few seconds she did nothing but stare into space, absentmindedly stroking her Vaporeon, who looked at her with worried eyes. Masumi pulled her out of her trip down memory lane, but Misty had trouble focussing.  _ Ash _ . Just his name had provoked a storm within her that she had no idea how to calm; a thousand thoughts ran through her head and she didn’t know how to focus on one. 

“Sorry, can you say that again?”

Even after Masumi kindly repeated the question Misty was still speechless. She opened and closed her mouth, like a fish, and felt ridiculous as she looked fearfully towards the cameras. Dear Arceus, this would single handedly kill her reputation…

“You seem to need a moment - do you want to take a quick break?” the interviewer asked and the readhead’s heart burned with appreciation. “That’d be great, thank you.”

__

Sadly, even five minutes of fresh air did next to nothing for her concentration. It was like her brain had short circuited, like some parts were burnt that were crucial for a smooth-running thought process. 

She took a deep breath as she took a seat on the sofa. Vaporeon, aware of her inner turmoil, itched closer and rested her head in her lap. “Thanks, sweetheart,” Misty murmured, and her pokemon  _ ‘poooo’ _ ed quietly. 

“So, it looks like you weren’t aware of the happenings the last few weeks?”

Misty, the portrayal of calmness in front of her camera even though she was falling apart inside, shook her head. “My sisters convinced me to take a break from social media, and I haven’t been watching the news recently. Guess I missed a lot, I didn’t even know Ash was back.” His name felt like a foreign substance in her mouth, and her tongue almost tripped over the easy, one syllable name. Vaporeon nestled even closer, clearly feeling her hand trembling. 

“But you’re not surprised the media is interested?”

That question seemed pretty odd, but she decided to ignore it. She shrugged. “He’s always been a Fan-favourite, so it makes sense.”

“You don’t think it might have something to do with you?”

Shock shot like ice into her veins, freezing her hand mid-air while stroking the pokemon in her lap. Her heart was beating out of her chest and her ears were ringing. “With me?” she heard herself squeak out without deliberately speaking the words.    
  


The journalist smiled reassuringly, and Misty resumed stroking Vaporeon, trying to calm down her speed up breathing. “He mentioned you quite often in his interviews after taking on a gym leader. Just yesterday, after his win against Blaine -”

“He’s already at the Cinnebar Gym?!” Misty interrupted harshly, and Masumi blinked, seemingly confused. “Yes, just the Earth badge is left until -” 

But Misty wasn’t even listening anymore.  _ No. Nononono. That can’t be true. That would mean he’s almost done - he’ll be here within the next two weeks. Maybe even less. I can’t deal with this - _

While lost in her own thoughts and succumbing into a rising panic Masumi hadn’t been inactive either, and when Misty snapped back into reality a tablet was thrust into her hands. She didn’t even have the chance to ask before the journalist pressed play on an already loaded video. 

It was Ash. Her Ash. The boy she’d met more than fifteen years ago. He looked older, more mature - and, she had to admit, ridiculously handsome. His cap was lopsided, rough black hair sticking out left and right, and his eyes were shining with joy. Pikachu on his shoulder was jumping up and down, nodding enthusiastically while his trainer talked about his win against Blaine. 

When the interviewer asked him about his reasoning to try his luck in Kanto again his smile slipped a little, and something like longing - like  _ sadness _ \- tainted his eyes. Pikachu’s ears fell immediately, and he patted his trainer’s face affectionately. “It’s mostly about Misty. I think I’ve mentioned her a couple of times the last few weeks, but it’s the truth - or at least a big part of it. I haven’t seen her for a while, and I’m so proud she made it into the Elite Four, but never had the chance to tell her - so it seemed like a good idea to try.” 

“Hold on - so instead of picking up a phone to call her you decided to take on the league?”

Misty had expected something goofy here, something that ten year old Ash would have said - something along the lines of  _ That didn’t seem like fun _ , but he threw her off again. “It’s a bit more complicated than that - I had to prove something to myself first, and…” He trailed off, thinking for a moment, then he exchanged a look with his partner, who nodded encouragingly. “You know what, ask me again when I have become the champion. There’s a few things I’m not ready to say yet, but I have a feeling I will be then.”

Tears had sprung to Misty’s eyes at his voice, at the way he said her name, caressed it - like it was a beautiful flower deserving of love and protection. A sob was making a way up her throat and she tried to choke it back, but it was useless; the next one was right on its heels. Her vision blurred as she looked at the mature Ash on the screen, remembering the boy she had fallen in love with years ago - the teenager she had lost to his need for adventure - the man she was  _ still _ helplessly in love with. She might have learned to live with it, learned to not choke up every time she heard his name; but the long time without him, without even the mention of him had wrapped her into a false sense of security and left her completely open for attacks. 

It wasn’t fair, what he was doing to her; it wasn’t fair that their break up years ago had left her in pieces, unable to properly function for weeks, and that he still had the same effect on her, even now, after years. It had taken such a long time to pick herself up again, but he’d left, so life had gotten easier over time. There had never been a thought of being over him, just because he had just quietly left her mind - but deep down she knew it had never been a question - she had fallen in love with Ash as a girl and never managed to get out of it. She’d made her peace with it, somewhere in the roots of her heart - he was it for her, but she’d never be it for him. 

Hearing from him, and now seeing him, hearing how he talked about her - it was too much. She couldn’t handle it. She leapt up from the couch, Vaporeon complaining loudly, choked out an “_I can’t” -_   
  


And then she ran out of the room, her pokemon hurrying after her. 

____

  
  


She didn’t speak to anyone for almost 24 hours after that. She’d run to her room and locked the door, had even returned Vaporeon to her pokeball because she couldn’t handle the pitying glances her pokemon gave her. She turned the music up, tried to drown out the world; tried to let her mind process what had just happened. 

To no avail.

Her thoughts kept running in circles, over and over again, didn’t falter, didn’t halt, just took a detour from time to time just to arrive at the original path seconds later. She couldn’t believe what was happening, couldn’t believe he was back and couldn’t deal with it. She wasn’t made for this - this lovesick feeling, the heartbreak. She was Misty Waterflower, damnit; the only time she was even  _ in touch _ with those kind of feelings was when she brushed them under the carpet. 

It was the next morning when she gave up and left her best friend into her room - well, she didn’t even let her in voluntarily. Cyn had paused her knocking briefly for some sleep during the night, but when she resumed it the next morning she found the door unlocked. Truth was, Misty had went on a morning run in the early morning and simply forgotten to lock the door behind her when she’d come back, so when she got out of the bathroom after her shower Cyn was sitting on her bed, bend over something lying in her lap - something like a book?

Misty didn’t think too much of it, until Cyn heard her approaching and looked up, leaving her with a clear view of the book -

A cold feeling shot like a spear made out of ice through her heart and she stood, eyes wide, frozen to the spot as her heart shattered into a million pieces. The shards fell to the floor, creating a symphony of high notes combining into something so loud it left Misty’s ears ringing. 

That book wasn’t any book. It was a scrap book of her time with Ash.

She didn’t even know why she still had it; hadn’t even been aware she did. It must have slipped to the backside of her nightstand in the years she hadn’t touched it, but why and how Cynthia had found it now was completely beyond her. 

“Where did you find that?” she asked, almost breathless, a lonely tear escaping her eye. 

“Misty, I’m so sorry - I didn’t -”

“Where did you find it? And why?” She was screaming now, hysterically, but she couldn’t help it; without even looking at the pictures and collected memories she knew they would break her heart all over again. 

_ But isn’t that what Ash coming here is doing to you anyways? _

“I didn’t know what the big deal was, so I - I called Brock. I just wanted to know what was up with you. He told me to look in the bottom drawer of your nightstand, and that I’d understand - I’m so sorry, Misty. I had no idea.”

For a few seconds it was completely silent in the room, Misty was sure she could’ve heard a pin drop. Her mind was racing once again, trying to figure out what to do while she stared at her best friend like a deer in the headlights. On one hand Cyn’s explanation made sense, that she just needed to understand what had happened to support Misty in the best way possible, on the other hand her friend had just violated her privacy and society prompted her to be mad about that. 

Misty felt like she needed to let it go, though. Her mind was busy enough with the Ash-shaped problem; and, to be fair, Cynthia had just done it because one of Misty’s oldest friends had told her to. She was kind of innocent, wasn’t she?

Quietly and without a word she took a seat next to Cynthia, pulling her legs up until she could rest her head on her knees. “So, what do you want to know?” she asked, blankly staring ahead while desperately trying to not sneak a glance at the book in her best friend’s lap. She definitely did not want to see that, did not want to be reminded of the most happy time of her life - of how much she still missed him. 

“I just - What happened? I thought you were just friends, Misty, I - It didn’t make any sense to me, the way you stormed out of there.” She spoke quietly, carefully, like talking to a wild animal with a flight risk, but Misty could feel her compassion radiating from her like warmth from a heater, and it warmed her from the inside out. 

“We - We were just friends, for a while. The story I told you is true, I suppose; the bike, the travel. Brock and Tracey. We traveled together for a while until I had to go back to my gym and he - he wanted to see more of the world, and I - we fought. I mean we always did, but that time before he left for Hoenn we really fought, not just jabbing. I didn’t want him to leave but was too proud to admit that, so I screamed at him to leave me alone… But he - he didn’t.” 

Tears had started to burn in her eyes and a sob interrupted her almost incoherent rambling as she recalled her past. “He just kept asking what was wrong with me, and I couldn’t lie anymore, so I screamed at him that I loved him,” she recounted in between sobs rattling her small frame. Cynthia put the book aside, laid an arm across Misty’s shoulder and rested her head on hers. 

“He called me an idiot, then he kissed me. He still left, but we were together for almost three years after that. I visited him in Hoenn and we kept videochatting through his first few months in Sinnoh, but then his calls became less and less and I just knew -” A new sob, more tears, soothing words from Cynthia. The circle repeated itself over and over, but her best friend’s closeness comforted her enough to keep going; in fact, she couldn’t stop, even if she wanted to. 

“When he came home the next time I didn’t wait for him to say it. I broke up with him myself. And when he told me he wanted to travel even further this time, all the way to Einall, I knew we’d made the right choice. He had his love and his dream, and I had mine. They - we - it… just didn’t work together… But...” 

Another sob broke through and she shivered, even though she wasn’t cold, at least not from the outside. Her inside was a whole different story, but she was almost used to it by now. 

“But you still love him,” Cynthia whispered. It wasn’t even a question, Misty’s emotional state was obvious.

The water master’s nod was hardly visible with the way she was sitting, but it wasn’t needed, either. Misty was aware that denial would be useless, and she didn’t even want to try it. She was hurting badly for years on end now, and she’d hardly ever told anyone. She was so over it. 

“But why is he coming here now?” Cynthia asked and her best friend shrugged. “I don’t know, Cyn. I don’t even know if I want to know.”

Out of the both of them, Cynthia would be the first one to understand Ash’s reasoning; but it was still far in the future, so in this moment, all she could do was wonder.


End file.
